GENERAL OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE ARMY - HIS EXCELLENCY ABESALOM MGHEBRISHVILI AND THE STATE'S SOCIAL SECURITY POLICY IN THE LINEAGE OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE ORDER OF ST. GEORGE AND MEMBERS OF THEIR REGIMENT

Abstract

Russian-Georgian relations have always been important and complex. These relations span many centuries. Russian interest in Georgian territories, along with a series of gradual attempts to assert influence, eventually became a recurring feature of regional politics. Until the second half of the 18th century, Russian domination over Georgia was largely nominal; however, the situation became more formalized after the 1783 treaty, and with the 1801 manifesto, Kartli-Kakheti was incorporated into the empire as an administrative unit, forming the Georgian Governorate in Eastern Georgia.

The legitimacy of the country’s authorities in establishing a Russian protectorate over Georgia, when considered in the historical context of the time, remains a debated issue in modern historiography. This matter has been examined by earlier scholars. Zurab Avalishvili notes that such a course of action was understandable “when there is a desire to maintain even partial independence, but no means to achieve it independently. The vassal status that Georgia was forced to assume under hostile Eastern neighbors was the form in which, guided by its own interests, Georgia would willingly have associated itself with a co-religionist and friendly state such as Russia.”

Key words: Absalom Mghebrishvili, General of the Russian Empire, Social Security Policy, Order of St. George, Imperial Policy, St. Petersburg (Petrograd), Russification Tendency of Georgian Names.